Novel Discourse Novel Discourse

Award-winning YA author Mark Rosendorf joined us to discuss thoughtful worldbuilding, magic systems, and how to do time travel the right way. We also discuss his rules for keeping your stories timeless, and how to ensure that audiences 10, 20, and 50 years from now will still find your work relevant.

Mark's award-winning series, The Witches of Vegas, has a new installment coming out January 4th 2023, Witch Way To Vegas, and is available for pre-order today. You can check out this and all of Mark's works at MarkRosendorf.com or find him on twitter at @markrosendorf.

https://www.amazon.com/Witch-Way-Vegas-Witches/dp/1509246797/ref=sr_1_1?crid=23ZJVVPJWUMLR&keywords=Witch+Way+to+vegas&qid=1666922196&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIwLjY5IiwicXNhIjoiMC4wMCIsInFzcCI6IjAuMDAifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=witch+way+to+vegas%2Caps%2C143&sr=8-1

It shouldn't be a surprise that man who asks "You talkin' to me?" to his mirror might be an unreliable narrator. How do you turn a character as strange and unlikeable as Travis Bickle into a narrator worth rooting for? When does showing harmful viewpoints turn into glorifying them? Join us this week as we dive into the complex character piece that is Taxi Driver.

Apple +'s most talked about show, "Severance", is a creepy and thoughtful look into our relationship with work, corporate loyalty, and worker's rights. Executive Producer Ben Stiller has created a story that is both highly accessible to wide audiences, yet is artfully crafted with deep themes. We all gave this show a high 9 out of 10, so why did we love this show so much? On this week's episode, we dive into the technical elements of what makes this story click.

Martin Scorsese's 2006 Oscar juggernaut "The Departed" has everything you'd want in a crime thriller: An outstanding cast, a phenominal script, and a story that will keep you on the edge of your seat. So how did the Mob thriller manage to keep us guessing until the final minutes? We discuss that and more on this week's episode.

The Novel D team is out this week, and as much as it pains us, we've had to unearth one of our older episodes to serve as this week's conversation. After a unanimous vote, we decided to bring you our discussion on Nightcrawler - one of the best and most disturbing character-driven stories of the 21st century.

Nightcrawler was nominated for the 2014 Oscar for best original screenplay, yet is still one of the most overlooked and underdiscussed movies of the 2010’s. We discuss how its dynamic main character explores the winners and losers of capitalism. We also revisit one of the most riveting music documentaries of recent memory, Woodstock ‘99.

The 1988 Film "Akira" was groundbreaking in many ways, from its storytelling to its animation, and even, what it said about Japanese society in such a transitional time. In this week's episode, we discuss why makes Akira one of the most influential stories of all time, and how it still remains a standard bearer for modern Anime.